Fright (Hard Case Crime)

I just finished reading this book and I am left in shock and in awe. This book is not about someone murdering someone else and finding out how it gets solved. No, this book is about the decent into the abyss of darkness that happens to Prescott Marshall, the primary character in this book. Cornell Woolrich really digs into his characters emotions. You experience the unravelling of a person first hand through his acts and emotions. The only words I can find to tell you how I feel about this book is MIND BLOWING! If you like your suspense, you will love this book. If you like to experience the thrill of not knowing what to expect when you turn the next page or read the next chapter, READ THIS BOOK!

Noir is a term most often associated with films, but it may also be appropriately applied to books. Among the classic mystery writers, there are few who are more noirish than Cornell Woolrich. With his tales of men and women caught up in the quirks of fate, where every turn to break free from doom leads just further down that path, Woolrich's writing epitomizes what noir is all about. In Fright, the hapless character is Prescott Marshall, who, at least in the beginning of the novel, has everything going his way. He has a decent job with good prospects and is about to marry a beautiful woman who he not only loves but also belongs to a wealthy family. Left on his own for a night, he gets completely drunk and has a one-night stand with a woman who he promptly forgets as soon as he sobers up. Unfortunately, Lorna hasn't forgotten him, and she starts blackmailing him, with the threat of endangering his upcoming marriage. Prescott thinks he has bought her off, but on his wedding day, she arrives to extort a bit more money. Prescott snaps, beats her to death and stashes her body in his closet as he goes off to his wedding. From the ceremony, he goes directly to his honeymoon and when an opportunity presents itself, he takes new wife Marjorie to another town, never returning to dispose of the body. Guilt gnaws at him, hanging over everything that happens in his life, and it gets nothing but worse when a stranger appears at his office. Is this man a cop out to find proof that Prescott is a murderer? Certainly, to the increasingly paranoid protagonist, there can be no other explanation. As in the best noir stories, even when the main character is a killer, it is still possible to find him sympathetic, and Prescott is definitely in that category. Fright is an example of what made Woolrich one of the all-time great mystery writers; even if it is not perfect, it is still pretty good. It may be a little pulpy, and the concluding twist, while nice is a little predictable (then again, it may have been less so back when it was first published in 1950). Little flaws aside, this is still a small gem that is worth reading.

Noir fans everywhere should celebrate Hard Case Crime for its reprinting of several lost masterpieces. This book by Cornell Woolrich is, in my opinion, the best one yet. We should all buy as many Hard Case Crime books as possible so that they will keep getting these books back into print for us. Okay. Now that I've got that little speech out of the way - onto the book. It's fantastic from the first page. Like most of Woolrich's books, you can feel the agony and despair jumping right off the page, building to an almost intolerable crescendo by the end. This is an amazing, tragic psychologocial portrait of a man gone wrong for reasons you can somehow understand. Woolrich for me is a masterful writer, even better than Jim Thompson, in the way he gets you deep into the psychology of a person who should be completely unsympathetic, and takes you right along while that character does some terrible things. Woolrich never loses his humanity when he does this. In addition to a great, suspenseful plot that finally boils over, all of the characterizations here are fantastic. Woolrich was ahead of his time in writing complex, believable, interesting female characters and this book is no exception. He captures the particular suffering of men and women of a certain era so well in this book. There are never any truly happy characters in Woolrich's books (are there? I can't think of any) but you won't want it any other way. If you love noir, get this book!

This is it--the purest noir. Obsession 101. Just one bit of advice: don't read it in a dark, empty house. Woolrich gives you real characters in a hollow universe and the tension is only relieved by the curious fact that he doesn't know how to use adverbs. Except for the repeating (adverbial) infelicities, the book is a sledgehammer to the soul. The middle section of the novel, which is bookended by a New York setting, takes place in a town "faraway". We're suddenly in the world of allegory, but with a familiar, unrelenting realism that is its own form of nightmare. If Edward Hopper had written fiction it would sound like this. The characters have real emotional depth and the plot--for all of its horror--is quite plausible. The kicker ending returns us to the world of conventional noir and offers a kind of relief after our sojourn in hell. Thank you, Hard Case Crime; you've done it again.

Fright is a terrific book. Cornell Woorich managed to combine a thriller with sheer pyschological horror. It is one of the most twisted and downright disturbing things I've ever read and had got to be the most tragic thing Hard Case Crime has published yet. Press Marshall is a lucky boy. He's handsome, smart, got a good job that is only going to get better and he's going to marry the beautiful, elegant and rich Marjorie. And then he messes up and everything goes horribly, irrevocably wrong. By the time the book is over Press has snuffed out lives, destroyed his mental health, turned Marjorie's adoration into disgust and fear and transforms himself into a monster. Watching Press and Marjorie descend into hell is like a fast paced roller coater. I did not put this book down once I got into it and the ending is like a smack upside the head. I'm going in search of more Cornell Woolrich books.